Winemaker Notes
The 2013 Marchesi di Gresy Barbaresco Camp Gros Martinenga opens with intense notes of violet and dried rose petals are accompanied by scents of hay and confit, with nuances of sweet tobacco, licorice and leather. The color is vivid, bright garnet red with orange reflections. The palate is full, harmonic, velvety, and embracing; intense balsamic notes unfold in a very long and balanced finish.
This wine is particularly well suited to wild game, aged cheeses, and main courses.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I love the tension and the glossy elegance here. The 2013 Barbaresco Riserva Camp Gros Martinenga is silky, bright and buoyant. It is complete and shows a lot of depth. It offers fresh acidity, and while it has a lean approach, it definitely has impressive length. This wine should evolve nicely over the next 10-20 years.
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Wine Spectator
The cherry, strawberry, earth, tobacco and mineral aromas and flavors show depth. This builds to the long finish and exhibits terrific balance and harmony. Decant now if you must, but should be better with some cellaring. Drink now through 2038.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The smallest production, the 2013 Barbaresco Riserva Camp Gros is the reserve cuvée. It spent a year in French oak followed by 16 months in Slavonian oak casks prior to bottling. It shows a kiss of that French oak right on opening, but that quickly fades into the background and more Bing cherry, violet, and road tar notes emerge. Nicely textured, medium-bodied, and balanced, it shows the cooler, slightly austere style of the vintage while still possessing plenty of sweet fruit and texture. It's drinking nicely today yet certainly has another 15+ years of prime time ahead of it.
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James Suckling
This is a rich and layered Barbaresco with lots of dark-berry, earth, meat and leather character. Full body, soft yet lightly chewy tannins and a flavorful finish. Drink now.
Responsible for some of the most elegant and age-worthy wines in the world, Nebbiolo, named for the ubiquitous autumnal fog (called nebbia in Italian), is the star variety of northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Grown throughout the area, as well as in the neighboring Valle d’Aosta and Valtellina, it reaches its highest potential in the Piedmontese villages of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero. Outside of Italy, growers are still very much in the experimentation stage but some success has been achieved in parts of California. Somm Secret—If you’re new to Nebbiolo, start with a charming, wallet-friendly, early-drinking Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba.
A wine that most perfectly conveys the spirit and essence of its place, Barbaresco is true reflection of terroir. Its star grape, like that in the neighboring Barolo region, is Nebbiolo. Four townships within the Barbaresco zone can produce Barbaresco: the actual village of Barbaresco, as well as Neive, Treiso and San Rocco Seno d'Elvio.
Broadly speaking there are more similarities in the soils of Barbaresco and Barolo than there are differences. Barbaresco’s soils are approximately of the same two major soil types as Barolo: blue-grey marl of the Tortonion epoch, producing more fragile and aromatic characteristics, and Helvetian white yellow marl, which produces wines with more structure and tannins.
Nebbiolo ripens earlier in Barbaresco than in Barolo, primarily due to the vineyards’ proximity to the Tanaro River and lower elevations. While the wines here are still powerful, Barbaresco expresses a more feminine side of Nebbiolo, often with softer tannins, delicate fruit and an elegant perfume. Typical in a well-made Barbaresco are expressions of rose petal, cherry, strawberry, violets, smoke and spice. These wines need a few years before they reach their peak, the best of which need over a decade or longer. Bottle aging adds more savory characteristics, such as earth, iron and dried fruit.